


My Calloused Heart

by EllOnWheels



Series: Drag Me Up From Down Here [6]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bot Feels, Bot Love, Dum-E is a bit of a troll, Extremis, Extremis Tony Stark, Fix-It, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Rhodey Is a Good Bro, Stony - Freeform, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Has Issues, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony-centric, bonus: spot the hidden Wolverine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-24
Updated: 2015-12-24
Packaged: 2018-05-08 23:34:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5517281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EllOnWheels/pseuds/EllOnWheels
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which: Tony stretches a new muscle, makes Vision laugh, gets Dum-E to sing, and lets Wanda in. Dum-E saves Tony from a panic attack by doing his best Golden Retriever impression. Steve just is the personification of a Golden Retriever. Rhodey is a good bro. Pietro's alive still, because fuck you MCU. Oh, and Steve and Tony cuddle, and Clint ships it so damn hard (in his own way of course).</p><p>Slow build Stony.</p><p>Shh, be vewy vewy quiet... We're hunting Hulks.</p><p>You will need to read the rest of this for it to make sense. It doesn't suck. Go ahead, give it a try.</p><p>Bonus: spot the hidden Wolverine and you get a No-Prize.</p>
            </blockquote>





	My Calloused Heart

_But you stood apart in my calloused heart, and you told me, and here's what I learned:_  
_That love is about all the changes you make, and not just three small words._  
The Way I Tend To Be - Frank Turner

Tony spent three days hacking away at code with Vision, FRIDAY, and the ever-present Dum-E, preparing for a concentrated effort to search for Bruce. They tried their best to code Extremis to use Vision as an anchor point so he wouldn't get lost when connecting his mind to the web, and spent time stretching his range like toning a muscle.

Clint had arrived back at HQ, all for helping the team bring Bruce home, though at first he had a hard time believing that Tony was capable of what he claimed. His skepticism lasted until Tony spoke to him through the refrigerator's interactive touch screen, the PA in the kitchen, and Clint's phone simultaneously. Tony demanded coffee so loudly that the resulting jump and squeak Clint let out made Natasha outright giggle into her napkin.

"Why should I get coffee for you?" Clint asked, wondering which camera in the room to look at, all the while looking his most sullen and rebellious.

"New arrowheads and quiver, Birdboy 1.0. Want an upgrade?"

"Kit I got works just fine. Depends on what they do." Clint replied.

"Comedy. Boxing glove. Arrow." Tony said and raised an eyebrow at Clint, who remained unaffected. "It can blow up a tank or be loaded with a sleeping gas that would knock out the Abomination."

"And what would you like in your coffee, Mr. Stark?" Clint asked. Natasha gave up and actually laughed out loud. Tony looked infinitely pleased with himself, despite his glowing blue eyes.

Clint found Steve, Rhodey, Vision, and Dum-E in the workshop with Tony. Tony had several leads hooked up to his head and chest, and he looked tired. Clint set the coffee down next to Tony only after he brought up images of the new arrowheads on screen. Clint laughed so hard he started coughing, and in doing so distracted Tony from being worried about picking up the coffee mug. Clint laughed even harder when Tony described the miniaturized propulsion systems that would make up for the lack of aerodynamics. Tony drank the coffee down quickly, ensuring that Steve wasn't going to jump on him for having coffee after two in the afternoon.

When they dissected the readings from Tony's mind again, Vision leaned forward and put his chin in his hands, looking much like The Thinker. "Tony, I am wondering if you would be willing to allow Wanda to aide us when we search for Dr. Banner. She is familiar with both of your minds and I believe she can help keep you centred." Tony went still.

"I'd be willing to try. But I don't want her to feel obligated to help me if she feels uncomfortable." Tony said.

"I'm sure she'd help, Tony." Steve said.

"One of my brain children blew up her parents, and Ultron filled her brother's chest with shrapnel, Steve. She doesn't have to do a fucking thing for me." Tony said. He hadn't meant to sound harsh, but knew too late that he had. He took a deep breath. "Sorry." He said.

"It's okay, Tony." Steve said.

"Don't worry, man, I still love you even when you're a drama queen." Rhodey said.

"My drama queen could sell out on Broadway, thank you very much." Tony said.

"No, that's your drag queen act. Don't think I don't have that Halloween charity gig on VHS somewhere. That was a legendary Frank N. Furter." Rhodey said, grinning in order to get Tony to play along. Distraction was the key to keep him moving forward. Steve looked perplexed, and Clint made a mental note to inform Steve of the existence of Rocky Horror later. He made another mental note to search through Rhodey's belongings if he could sneak past his parents at their home in Philadelphia.

"How angry would your mom and dad be if I hit their place with an EMP?" Tony asked.

"And interrupt mom's internet and dad's ESPN feed? It was nice knowing you, Tony." Rhodey teased. Clint smiled. He was getting to like Rhodey very much.

"Have you been to see Pietro yet?" Clint asked.

"No... I... Well, you know. If I can't even bring myself to ask Banner for help without prompting, I think seeing someone who was barely alive for a long time because of what I did isn't going to help my guilt complex." Tony said.

Pietro Maximoff had sat up like a zombie on the lifeboat after Sokovia had started to go down. His enhanced metabolism had sparked up and caused accelerated healing, which was enough to keep him alive until Clint could get the EMTs over to him. In Tony's opinion, Pietro's survival was the only good thing to come out of Sokovia. It had been a huge relief then, a bright spot. That didn't mean that Clint had given up on bitching about Pietro simultaneously taking years off of his life, and some how making the longest day of his life up to that point, even longer.

And while recovery had been steady, it had been slow. Extra care had to be taken to remove the metal from Pietro's chest, and operating on someone with an enhanced metabolism was problematic. Tony had stepped in, called in Helen Cho, invented new technology to keep Pietro's body open long enough for the surgeons to do their thing, and replicated one of the sedatives Bruce had developed to keep Pietro's body calm enough so he wouldn't bleed out, and keep him under long enough so he wouldn't have to be awake for anything.

"Well, I am going to suggest that we ask her opinion on it, instead of presuming she's going to say no." Steve said, interrupting Tony's reverie. Tony stopped himself from barking about doubting Steve's sanity. He would make the concentrated effort to believe the best in people for Steve's sake. Even if he thought Steve was a bit nuts for thinking the best of him.

"I already said I was okay with it. But how do we go about asking her?" Tony started removing the leads from his body, knowing that no further useful information would be gathered from him today.

"I can." Vision volunteered. "We're... close." Tony nodded but hid his grin. He was wondering about the nature of Vision and Wanda's relationship, but was also committed to not asking until the information was freely offered. "You should come with me." Vision added.

"If you don't think she'll explode my head using the Jedi Mind Trick." Tony said.

 

That was how Tony ended up in the medical ward with Vision and Dum-E at his side. The bot was bright and inquisitive to be exploring again. Once more Tony explained everything patiently to Dum-E, openly amused by his curiosity. Still though, Tony felt like shambling mess as he followed Vision into Pietro's room with soft, hesitant, steps.

"You look like shit." Pietro declared before any other words were spoken. Tony looked at Pietro, still too gaunt and pale, but on the road to recovery, and had to laugh.

"Yeah, well, breaking the capital of a country sort of broke me." Tony replied, and ran a hand through his hair. He was still fuzzy, but his hair was soft and clean, and his curls were ever prominent.

"I think we all had a hand in that, and you're not the only one who broke, Stark." Pietro said. Tony smiled sadly at him.

"Tony." He said softly. "Please, call me Tony."

"All right." Pietro said.

"But he is right, you do look like shit." Wanda agreed. She was seated beside the bed. The television was showing a feed of the UN discussing the rebuilding of Sokovia.

"Thank you. I am aware. Piping Hot Mess could be the name of my autobiography. Actually, FRIDAY, can you make a note to add that to the list of potentials? Current front runner: Cheap Trick and a Cheesy One-Liner: Tales of a Piping Hot Mess." Tony asked.

"Sure boss." FRIDAY said from the PA system. Pietro laughed and Wanda almost did.

"So, what took you so long to come see me?" Pietro asked. "All the way over here on the other side of the building."

"Raging guilt, lingering social anxiety, and crippling trust issues." Tony replied flatly. "I'm... working on it." He shrugged at himself. "But they are the type of issues which I don't need to burden a guy who is recovering from multiple chest surgeries with. Trust me, I know what that feels like." Tony said, his voice growing softer. Tony's hand hovered over his chest absently and he looked off into the middle distance, focusing on nothing. Dum-E, true to his nature, started playing with the hem of Tony's shirt, gave him something to focus on, and he came back to reality. "Anyway, I am designing a new suit for you to run in. I had to give a little away in terms of weight and aerodynamics in exchange for Kevlar shielding, but it's flexible enough that you should still be comfortable. We'll get you fitted when you're on your feet again. Which I'm hoping will be soon."

"I'm going to be fine eventually, Tony. I'm bored, but there are worse things to be." Pietro said. "Now, who is this?" He asked as he eyed up Dum-E.

"This is Dummy. I told you about him." Wanda said brightly, her smile became wide and genuine. "He is about as adorable as a robot can get. Which is surprisingly a lot." Tony smiled at her, and then cast his gaze down to his bot, who was still hanging close to him.

"I'm fine, buddy. Go say hello." Tony told Dum-E and gave him a pat. Dum-E reached up, stroked Tony's hair as reassurance, and then rolled further into the room, cameras on Wanda and Pietro. He kept his claw high enough to show his curiosity, but not so high as to be intimidating. As he rolled in next to the bed, he looked Pietro over, investigating passively.

"Dummy thinks you have interesting hair." Wanda told Pietro and laughed lightly. Pietro reached up cautiously, and Dum-E touched his fingertips gently. Pietro grinned.

"I can't believe it. More than two decades of research into A.I.s, innovation in spoken language recognition tech, creation of entirely new computer and oral languages, and heaven only knows how much spent, and he's basically a therapy dog." Tony said and scrubbed his eyes with his hand. Vision grinned and suppressed a laugh.

Tony then tried to deal quietly with the mind-blowing fact that he'd taught an A.I. to laugh. It was world changing, but he wasn't sure how many people here would understand that. He wasn't even sure that Vision would understand how much of a game changer it was. Humour and laughter were the territory of the soul, or at least the intangible, abstract mind, and even though Wanda could read his bots, it was still hard for him to grasp.

"Yes, well, he does do that job well enough doesn't he? He's a natural when it comes to caring for his people. Just like you taught us to be." Vision reasoned. Tony looked at the interaction between Wanda, Pietro, and his weirdo of a bot and smiled like a bemused parent.

"So, I am going to assume you didn't come down here to wish me well if your social anxiety is that bad." Pietro assumed. He was moving his hand and Dum-E was tracking and mimicking his movements.

"I do have an ulterior motive, yes." Tony admitted. He wasn't going to dump the burden of asking on Vision. He wanted Wanda to make her own choice based on how she felt about him, and not Vision. "I need your help, Wanda. I've run into a problem with the tech in my body, and I need to find Dr. Banner, who as you know, hasn't been seen since Sokovia."

"I can try to find him, but my range is limited." Wanda said.

"No, Vision and I will do the finding. I need you to help keep my mind from wandering off in pieces into the internet, while I basically upload my consciousness in order to track Bruce down. I know how he hides. I have an idea of where he is. I should be able to find him. But I need help so I don't... get lost while I'm doing it." Tony said. "And I know I don't have any right to ask you given all that's happened, but I am selfish enough to not want a lingering, slow death. I did that once before. Worst. Scene. Ever."

The twins exchanged a look, and Pietro gave an almost imperceptible nod of his head, and Wanda returned it. "Of course I will help, Tony." Wanda agreed. Tony let out a breath.

"I don't want to self sabotage here or anything, but I'm serious. You can say no. You have every right and reason in the world to say no." Tony said.

"Tony, the shell that took out our home said Stark on the side... The person who launched it was not named Stark." Pietro said. "We understand that better now."

"The person who launched it was someone who was probably much closer to home, willfully doing damage to their own part of the world. Where the shell came from is insignificant. If not from America, it would have come from Russia, or China, or anywhere. You are not to blame for human nature." Wanda said. "And more importantly, we are quite aware of the effort, resources, and money you've put into saving Pietro's life. I will always be grateful for that." Wanda gave him a smile. Tony tried to smile back, but suddenly covered his eyes with his hands again, trying to rein in his emotions.

"I'm just... Hoo... Gonna need a minute here." Tony said and slipped out of the room. He leaned against the wall next to the door, and then slid down to the floor, all the while dragging shaky breaths into his lungs. Dum-E was there in an instant, a box of tissues in his claw. He set them in Tony's lap, and stroked his hair gently. Tony leaned into the firm plane of Dum-E's lower casing, the feel soothing and grounding. It took Tony a few moments to realize that Dum-E was softly playing a midi version of _How Much is That Doggy in the Window._ Tony snorted and laughed quietly to himself.

"Is this my punishment for calling you a therapy dog?" Tony asked. Dum-E nodded, opened the apertures of his cameras, and the lowest portion of his claw in his equivalent of a cheesy, trollish, grin. Tony continued to laugh quietly and pulled Dum-E's arm close to him for a few moments. "You're a dork of a bot." He said. Dum-E raised and lowered his middle section in a shrug, which was his universal sign for _meh_.

"Okay, let's go back in and try to show them that I'm not a total flake." Tony said. Dum-E pulled free from his grasp, and offered his arm. Tony grabbed it and the bot pulled him to his feet, and resumed humming about doggies in pet store windows.

 

The truth, the unvanquished truth, was that the idea of Wanda puttering around in his head terrified him. But the great difference this time, was that he was admitting it out loud. He was still determined as hell to carry on with what he needed to do, but he was voicing what was going on in his head. He told Dum-E, FRIDAY, and Rhodey. He told Steve. He told Vision. He told them it was okay to tell the others and discuss solutions. Most importantly, he told Wanda, because he knew she would figure it out soon enough.

She was patient with him, and tried to assure him she wasn't going to cause him any harm. But what she had shown him back when she was still on Ultron's side of the argument had him wary, and shamelessly slipping into Steve's embrace whenever he felt he could get away with it. Steve had obliged him generously, and Tony was grateful. He reveled in contact, craved it, and tried to reciprocate enough to ensure that Steve enjoyed it just as much as he did.

Tony continued to pick at Extremis' code in the privacy of his own mind, using his wireless connections to run experiments with FRIDAY. He knew there was some futility in trying to be absolutely sure of everything, when he knew precious little of anything with certainty. Extremis was recoding his DNA on its own. It was trying to perfect the function of Tony's body, and it was trying to learn how to replicate the nanobots and sensors within him, without need for injecting new units when the old ones wore out. He discussed the merits of this with Vision alone. He was still holding back the depth of non-organic changes that had occurred within him from everyone who wasn't an A.I.

Vision told him that if he insisted on trying to let the nanobots colonize his body, that most likely he was going to have to give them the means to feed, reproduce, and maintain themselves, which was going to kick off a whole other set of problems. "How much of a cyborg are you willing to be at the end of this?" Vision asked him plainly.

"When I had the arc reactor, I was technically already one, V. Nanobots aren't that much worse, really, and less noticeable by the general population. You're not squishy meat and no one would question your humanity or personhood. I'm not going to lose my soul over this. I'm still me. I'll just get better bandwidth and cell reception." Tony said. Vision gave him the Mona Lisa smile he was so fond of giving.

"I'm glad you see it that way." Vision said.

"Most of humanity will think I'm nuts if they find out. I get that. But ever since Dummy taught himself to dance, I never doubted that an A.I. could be an autonomous person. And just because part of me is a computer or machine, doesn't mean that I am a computer or machine. It doesn't creep me out. Maybe not in the way it should. But the fact is, I need Extremis to live now. So I should use it and use it for the good of humanity." Tony said, and took a sip of the smoothie that they had concocted to help the nanobots in his body thrive. "So, we're sure that this won't give me heavy metal poisoning?"

"The materials should all be absorbed by the bots through your blood stream via your digestive system, so they can maintain themselves and the sensors in your body that connect you to the suit. If it works, we will no longer need to replace them when their power source is depleted. That being said, if your excrement turns black, we should revisit the code." Vision said.

"Fucking charming... At least this has the bonus of being cucumber melon flavoured. Highly enjoyable." Tony said and took another drink. "Thanks for not thinking I'm completely off my rocker."

"Like you, I wish to see humanity progress, Tony. Not in the way Ultron proposed. I want to see it thrive, and to foster it if I can." Vision said. "Harnessing good technology is definitely one way to achieve that."

"I'll drink to that." Tony agreed. "We'll need to work on security though. Make sure I don't get hacked." He said and finished the drink.

"FRIDAY and I are already on it." Vision said.

 

Tony was sitting on a stool beside the holotable when the Avengers started to pile in. He wasn't exactly high on the idea of having an audience, but as soon as he'd said he wanted Steve and Rhodey there, the rest of the team took it as an opportunity to invite themselves. Tony submitted to it on pain of Rhodey calling in his mother, but after whining about it, in the same breath he asked FRIDAY to set a reminder for Rhodey and himself to go visit Philadelphia. Tony had gotten good at calling her regularly to talk, and she seemed pleased with his progress and was glad he was being sensible about Steve. To the point where she laughed when Tony told her "Sensible is at least the ninth word I'd use to describe it."

Today though, he was shamelessly leaning into Steve, who stood behind him, arms loosely around Tony. He felt as though it was an indulgence, but couldn't be compelled to care. Steve's solid presence was calming and he felt so very safe in his arms. He needed that today. Particularly when he recalled Hamlet's thoughts about that undiscovered country, from which there was no return. The words rolled through his mind in Edwin Jarvis' voice. Poetry had been the realm of Jarvis' education of him. Engineering, mathematics, alcoholism, and neglect were Howard's territory. Music, public responsibility, charity, and affection had been Maria's. But poetry, sarcasm, and real familial love was the mark Jarvis had left on Tony, and it was that he chose to focus on today. It was at the core of his being, and he needed to keep himself together.

Because today was one of those days. Even if it ended with him snuggled up close to Steve in his own bed, things would be forever changed after he did this. Mental access to the all of the information in the world that was stored online was as much a superpower as Steve, Wanda, and Pietro possessed. Put him in the armour, and he would basically be Vision-Lite.

He sent a mental note to FRIDAY to work on adjusting how they communicated in the armour. She seemed surprised that she still wanted her there when he could handle most of the functions himself. _"If your mind is online, boss, you won't need me if the g-force makes your body pass out. You can still control the suit."_

 _"Of course I need you with me. I can only split my attention so many ways, dear. Someone has to watch my back and there's no one better for the job."_ He told her. And if FRIDAY's servers ran a little warmer for a bit, then who was she to deny it? Praise for a job well done felt good.

Tony looked up from the readouts on the holotable and looked at Vision. "I think that's about it. We're as ready as we're going to get."

"So, what do we do?" Rhodey asked.

"Pray, if that's your thing." Tony said and shrugged.

"You'll be fine." Steve said, and massaged Tony's neck and shoulders. Tony cuddled further into Steve who smiled the smile of a Golden Retriever who was trying to feign innocence after knocking over a garbage can. Clint manfully avoided gagging for comedy's sake. He made kissy faces instead. Tony shrugged again, turned his head and body far enough to peck Steve on his jawline. Steve held Tony close for a moment.

"Oh god, the cute. It's damn near unbearable." Clint complained. Natasha swatted his upper arm affectionately.

"Wanda, do you have him?" Vision asked. He was hovering, cross-legged, above the holotable, opposite Tony. Wanda was facing the window, a red wave visible in her eyes.

"I have him." She said. "Your mind is... quite beautiful, Tony."

"Honey, if you think that's pretty, you should see my-" Tony started, but was cut off by Steve hugging him closer.

"Tony, no." He said. Tony faked a dramatic huff.

"Oh fine." He grumbled.

"Besides, until further notice, whatever it is you're speaking of is exclusively my territory to look at." Steve teased. He was picking up on Rhodey's technique of distracting Tony into focusing.

"Okay, fair enough. Can't argue that. It'd be ridiculous."

"You're killing me with the adorable here, Tones." Clint said and rolled his eyes.

"He's an excellent choice, Tony." Vision said. "Are you ready?"

"As I'll ever be, I guess. Better to just do it." Tony said. Steve pressed a kiss to Tony's cheek.

"We have time, Tony. Just like you said. We have other options if you're not ready." He murmured in Tony's ear. Tony shook his head gently.

"I want this, Steve. I want Bruce back here safe. I want him to get the help he needs and be able to deal with all that's happened too. I want Extremis to work for me. Because if it does, it means I can help the world. It means I can be with you, in the committed way you deserve. You don't need the distraction of me constantly overwriting my own programming getting between us. I want that, so I must do this." Tony explained. The brightness of Steve's smile could have matched the power output of Niagara Falls.

"Oh god." Clint gasped and pretended to collapse on Natasha. "Need. Insulin. Sweetness incapacitating. Impeding diabetic coma. Nat. Halp meeee." Natasha shrugged him off and let him almost stumble down to the floor. Clint righted himself with a wild flail of his entire body, and then raised his arms in the air to congratulate himself. Tony laughed at his antics.

"Okay, V. Anytime. Rock and roll." Tony said and gave an affirmative nod. Vision floated in closer to Tony and placed his hands on either side of Tony's face gently.

"Sometimes sir, you are damned walking cliché." Vision said. Tony laughed again.

"Be careful out there, Tony." Rhodey warned.

"Boldly go where no man has gone before." Tony said, and gave his old friend a wink.

The Mind Stone flared to life, and Tony's eyes lit up in that inhuman blue. The world around Tony and Vision faded out, and suddenly they were moving together, forward into a great, hollow, echoless, lightless space. Tony couldn't feel his body. Couldn't feel anything. It was familiar, but it was this part that terrified him most of all. He wasn't anywhere, and he feared getting stuck there.

But as had happened the first time Extremis had connected him, a point of light appeared in the distance. It was a precious spark in the inky black. Tony powered himself toward it, his consciousness desperate for sensory input. As they got closer the spark of light got larger, warmer, and inviting. He flew into it with the terrified joy of a first time skydiver.

They emerged on the other side, surrounded by what appeared to be endless rows of tiny screens hovering in a grey-blue-green haze, displaying a preview image or words. Tony knew now that they were files. Millions of files and pathways to get to them, all stored online. They were stacked up in infinite rows. Tony knew this now, but it still shook him to his very core. "You getting this, Wanda?" He asked in a voice soft with wonder and awe.

 _"It's... like nothing I've ever seen."_ She replied. In her mind's eye, she was seeing what Tony was. Tony found himself with a body this time, a projection to centre himself, and make his presence here easier for his mind to accept. He pulled agreed upon files down from the labyrinth down with a thought, and that too was freeing. He was starting to be able to control it. The screens came out rested near them, displaying a preview of computer code. Wanda looked out through Tony's peripheral vision and saw a visualization of Vision, FRIDAY, Dum-E, and two other bots that looked almost exactly like him. They were all staring up at the cascade of files. Tony looked down at the files in front of them.

"This is my virus and malware protection?" Tony asked.

"The best in the world, boss." FRIDAY said. "We've all been over it, and tested it against ourselves and outside sources. Kids on 4chan and the deep web are still losing their minds over it, and we plan to keep it that way. We'll have to keep at it though, create a program that will continually update itself and adapt."

"All right." Tony said. He pulled the files toward him, took them in his hand, and pushed them into his chest, right where the arc reactor had once sat. A translucent visualization of the Iron Man armour appeared around his body when the program came online, and he grinned. "Okay, which one of you dorks thought up this visual?" He asked.

"All of us, sir. We got Team Discovery Channel back together for the project." Vision said. Tony laughed loudly at his collective name for the bots.

"You guys and gals are the best. Honestly." He shook his head and smiled affectionately. "Okay, kids, this is where Vision and I leave you. Stay close though, please." Dum-E, Butterfingers, and U nodded and waved goodbye.

Tony assumed the position he needed to fly when in his physical armour, and he rose up closer to the cascading files. Vision followed him, in a standing position, his expression serene. They shot off together into the depths of the files. Within moments, Tony started locating and sending files back to FRIDAY to analyze. She was amused when Dum-E settled back and started whistling Who Made Who by AC/DC, and Butterfingers and U joined in enthusiastically.

Tony had never felt so free. He wanted to go off in every direction at once and explore. But Vision's presence beside him, and Wanda's hold on his mind kept him together and focused on his task. Bruce. He needed Bruce to help him bring Extremis to heel. If he wanted to be able to explore, he had to fix this first.

He sifted through the files, and picked up the threads that Bruce probably thought he'd scattered to the winds. Fiji first. He found reports of minor robberies from the most well to do residents. People who could afford to lose things. Bruce was a moral survivalist after all. Then he found the departure of a container ship, carrying the record of a very rare passenger in its manifest. Tony could find no record of the passenger's arrival on the island. It was a slow, but cheap and very low profile way to travel. Tony knew that Bruce had used container ships to get from place to place before.

The eventual destination of the ship was a point of interest, as it was a great place to walk off the edge of the earth. "Madripoor. I figured." Tony said. He momentarily wondered if the others could still hear him, but kept looking. The passenger had disembarked there, and Madripoor was the perfect hideout for someone with Bruce's life skills. Tony had to wonder if he'd been there the whole time, and all other leads had been false alarms, set off by the activities of the Winter Solider. Barnes had been steadily picking off HYDRA officials ever since SHIELD had nearly fallen, and its files had been dumped on the internet.

Lowtown in Madripoor was a modern day Tortuga, home to all kinds of rogues who kept the respectable types away. Tourists didn't go into Lowtown after dark. Tony had been once, because he wasn't one to lose a bet because of a little well-founded fear. It had been a race via taxi and rickshaw from the glittering Sovereign Hotel of Hightown, down to the Princess Bar in Lowtown. Tony had been an egotistical twenty-something then who thought he had the world by the balls. Also, there was no way in hell he was going to let Tiberius Stone call him a pussy under any circumstance. That was still true to this day.

The fact that he and Ty had been discovered by one of the bar's owners attempting to chat up the cabaret singers, and then were summarily escorted back to Sovereign Hotel by the shortest, angriest, man with a Canadian accent that Tony had ever met, just made for a better story in Tony's opinion.

Tony had been in the bar long enough to know the basics of the security system. It had cameras in and outside, as did many businesses in Lowtown. Not that the police would investigate, but if the locals had enough evidence, justice tended to sort itself out there. Tony found the Princess Bar's security feed archive, and started running facial recognition software for a glimpse of Bruce.

Vision was still beside him, quiet and seemingly impressed and proud of Tony's intuitive use of the resources to hand. "Hey V, can you cover the other security cameras in the area? FRIDAY, can you do the same for satellite imagery, see if anything is useful?" Tony asked. "Start by looking for foreigners in Lowtown. They should know better than to wander around there. It's in the travel guides."

Tony kept on scrolling through faces, and saw it as soon as the program did. "There! Two days ago! By the bar." Tony said excitedly.

"Indeed, sir, that appears to be Dr. Banner." Vision agreed, as he turned his attention back to Tony.

"Holy shit... Is that Barnes with him?" Tony asked, and expanded the image from the security feed. A large man, who was trying to appear smaller, sat on the stool two down from Bruce. Bruce was sipping at a mineral water, and his almost companion was drinking a lager.

"I believe you are correct, Tony... What shall we do now? If the Winter Soldier is in the area, we are going to have to approach much more carefully."

"We go back and ask the team. I don't do subtle, as you may know." Tony replied.

"I am mildly aware." Vision said, and gave him a droll little smile.

"Yeah, yeah, yuk it up."

"Inside I am rofling, I assure you." Vision said, and Tony chuckled.

Tony was elated when Vision and Wanda led him easily back to himself. So elated that he promptly threw up into the garbage can. He groaned, because the way that Clint crowed about it meant that he was going to be hearing about it for a while. Steve got close and dragged his fingers through Tony's hair. "Good job." He murmured to Tony.

"Thanks, but please let me brush my teeth before you get any closer to me." Tony said, and lurched toward the bathroom. Rhodey stepped in, and supported Tony from his side.

"Let me handle this one, Cap. You get him some ginger ale. I am more seasoned when it comes to Tony vomit." Rhodey said, and gave Steve a reassuring nod, and then refocused on Tony. "You're still a crazy son of a bitch... I hate when you go places that I can't ride with you."

"I know, gumdrop... But I got a good look and I found him. Banner is in Madripoor. At least he was 48 hours ago. I gotta get the suit ready." Tony said. Rhodey continued them on their path to the bathroom.

"It'll keep, Tony. FRIDAY told us while you were... away... that he might have been there for months now. We haven't been looking there, so he probably thinks the heat is off of him for now. No need to flush him out if he's not looking to escape." Rhodey reasoned. Tony groaned, and rolled his head toward Rhodey.

"I hate when you're right." He mumbled.

"I know you do. But better to listen to me gloat about it rather than momma." Rhodey reasoned. Tony chuckled, and then stopped suddenly.

"Oh fuck, don't make me laugh. I'm gonna hurl again. So weird to feel this way while sober" Tony said.

"Tell me about it... You'll probably do it twice more at least." Rhodey said, and sent Tony in the direction of the toilet in the bathroom. Tony clung to the bowl, having made it there just in time. "And while you're a captive audience, I can tell you all about how lucky you are that Captain America still wants to get close to you while you're puking. Honestly, you got a horseshoe up your ass, Tony."

"I can think of at least one thing I would rather have up my ass, honey bear." Tony said. Rhodey laughed hard while Tony threw up for the third time. Rhodey rubbed Tony's shoulders and neck like he had for wiry, impossibly young, Tony back in the M.I.T. dorms.

"Everyone needs a hobby. I don't judge." Rhodey said and shrugged.

"There's a reason why you're my favourite." Tony said and spat one last time, and then flushed the toilet. Rhodey poured a glass of water from the sink, handed it to Tony, and put a hand on his friend's shoulder to keep on the floor for a moment until the dizziness and adrenaline rush passed. "Thank you." Tony mumbled, rinsed his mouth, and leaned his head on the cool tile wall of the bathroom, his eyes firmly closed.

"So, what did you see?" Rhodey asked.

"Wonderful things." Tony replied and smiled.

_End - For now_

**Author's Note:**

> I have failed to make an Elmer Fudd joke... Hopefully next time. Next up, Madripoor!


End file.
